Main Cast: Gary Cooper, Patricia Neal, Raymond Massey, Kent Smith, Henry Hull, Robert Douglas
Release Year: 1949
Country: US
Run Time: 113 minutes
Plot
The hero of Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead is Howard Roark (Gary Cooper), a fiercely independent architect obviously patterned after Frank Lloyd Wright. Rather than compromise his ideals, Roark takes menial work as a quarryman to finance his projects. He falls in love with heiress Dominique (Patricia Neal), but ends the relationship when he has the opportunity to construct buildings according to his own wishes. Dominique marries a newspaper tycoon (Raymond Massey) who at first conducts a vitriolic campaign against the "radical" Roark, but eventually becomes his strongest supporter. Upon being given a public-housing contract on the proviso that his plans not be changed in any way, Roark is aghast to learn that his designs will be radically altered. Roark sneaks into the unfinished structure at night, makes certain no one else is around, and dynamites the project into oblivion. At his trial, Roark acts as his own defense, delivering an eloquent paean to individuality. He is acquitted, while the newspaper tycoon, upset that he could offer Roark no help during the trial, kills himself. This clears the way for a final clinch between Roark and Dominique on the skeleton of his latest building project. Ayn Rand's celebration of Objectivism didn't translate very well to film, with Gary Cooper coming off more selfish and petulant than anything else. The Fountainhead's saving graces are the solid direction by King Vidor, the rhapsodic musical score by Max Steiner, and the symbolism inherent in Cooper's manipulation of his power drill when he first lays eyes on Patricia Neal! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Ayn Rand's adaptation of her own classic novel deconstructs numerous provocative and age-old societal opposites: integrity vs. conformity, the individual vs. the collective, selfishness vs. selflessness, power vs. weakness. The Fountainhead couches these in the deceptively fertile subject of architecture, and casts the unflappable Gary Cooper as the against-the-grain designer nearly Galilean in his trailblazing spirit, which comes across as either arrogantly bullheaded or defiantly courageous depending on one's analysis of the issues. Rand's plot is intricate and ever more evocative as it rolls forward, most notably in the person of the complex, flip-flopping newspaper editor (Raymond Massey), who embodies, at different times, both the spineless cowardice Howard Roark abhors and the heedless determination he prizes. Rand's talky philosophies, which dominate the film for better or worse, invite endless contemplation about what it means to be a trendsetter and to protect the purity of one's artistic endeavors, especially in a world eager to quash those who challenge the status quo. Amid this high-mindedness, the romantic relationship between Cooper and Patricia Neal feels overblown and inappropriately Harlequin, surely a concession to Hollywood expectations, which has a certain thematic irony of its own for Rand, if one considers the uncompromising architect her stand-in. Everything else in The Fountainhead is meaty with thematic import, solidified by the acting and King Vidor's directing, which earns kudos for keeping the audience glued to a nearly two-hour movie that's mostly dialogue. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
Edward Carrere - Art Director, Milo Anderson - Costume Designer, Dick Mayberry - First Assistant Director, King Vidor - Director, David Weisbart - Editor, Max Steiner - Composer (Music Score), John Wallace - Makeup, Perc Westmore - Makeup, Robert Burks - Cinematographer, Henry Blanke - Producer, William L. Kuehl - Set Designer, John Holden - Special Effects, Edwin DuPar - Special Effects, H.F. Koenekamp - Special Effects, William McGann - Special Effects, Oliver S. Garretson - Sound/Sound Designer, Ayn Rand - Screenwriter, Ayn Rand - Book Author
The story follows the struggles of Howard Roark, an individualistic architect.
Production
Rand demanded that the entire speech that Howard Roark gives at the end of the film be read exactly as in the original novel. Vidor initially agreed, but when shooting commenced on the scene, he decided to tighten it up a bit. Upon hearing this, Rand called the head of the studio demanding that the whole speech be filmed. Rand won out, and Vidor filmed the entire speech. The scene goes on for nearly six minutes, one of the longest speeches ever in a feature film.
The film was released in VHS format in 1990 and in 2006 as a DVD.
Adaptation from novel
While the movie is an abridged version of the original novel, the general tone and intent was not significantly affected. However, there are significant differences. In the book, Gail Wynand contemplates suicide several times, and when giving in to the strikers and letting his paper denounce Roark he feels that he had in effect killed himself, even if remaining physically alive. In the film, he actually does kill himself after successfully securing Roark to complete his dream of the Wynand Building. This ties in with another minor variation from the novel, in which Dominique marries Keating, divorces him to marry Wynand, and eventually divorces him to marry Roark. In the movie, Dominique merely breaks off her engagement to Keating to marry Wynand (in the novel, there was no such engagement; the marriage was abruptly proposed by Dominique and sealed the same day), and is subsequently freed to marry Roark by Wynand's suicide.
